


Stay

by Sannguine



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Fluff, In which these galactic assholes are in love with one another and can't hardly admit it, Love Confessions, M/M, Soft Space Boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-17
Updated: 2016-06-17
Packaged: 2018-07-15 14:04:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7225342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sannguine/pseuds/Sannguine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He nearly drops his helm, the surge of emotion, so raw and unfiltered and desperate catches him off guard.</p>
<p>He doesn’t even need to delve into Hux’s mind again to pick up on his thoughts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stay

It happens late one evening. When Ren is searching in the low light of Hux’s quarters for his clothes, gathering them up piece by piece, dressing himself with a solemn look on his face. He doesn’t want to admit it out loud, doesn’t want to seem childish and weak, needy in comparison to Hux, who doesn’t let these things bother him, but he fears that if he doesn’t speak up, he’ll never know the answers he desires.

Hux lays on his side, back towards the Knight and breathing even. He is still naked, still covered in Ren’s bite marks, the telltale bruises around his wrists and throat from their earlier activities. Every inch as beautiful now as he is when he is standing fierce and proud aboard the bridge, _his_ bridge, giving commands effortlessly and leading them into uncharted territory, ripe for First Order pickings.

When Ren has dressed himself, helm tucked underneath his arm and saber at his hip, he frowns once more at Hux’s back, who is still facing away from him, unflinching. It worries him, because while Hux doesn’t necessarily encourage Ren to _linger_  any longer than he needs to, he’s never been this cold to him before. It borders on cruel in Ren’s mind, and he supposes that’s what hurts to most.

“I suppose I shall be taking my leave then,” he begins, and bites at his lower lip. He could always cast his thoughts outwards, he could search Hux’s mind for the answers he so desperately seeks, but he had promised he would refrain from that, he wouldn’t read Hux’s mind without his express permission.  


But even then, Hux’s thoughts were always so loud, like he was putting them on display for Ren, encouraging him. And so he probes, gently, pressing his mind against Hux’s own as he lays in bed silently.

_Don’t go, please.. please don’t leave again. You leave every night. Just stay with me. Stay. Please._

He nearly drops his helm, the surge of emotion, so raw and unfiltered and _desperate_  catches him off guard. He sets his helm down on the desk nearby softly, lays his saber next to it and crawls back into bed, contorts himself to fit perfectly behind Hux and wrap his arm around his waist. He doesn’t even need to delve into Hux’s mind again to pick up on his thoughts.

Hux shifts, turns around in Ren’s arms, wraps himself around the Knight and shoves his face into his chest, lets out a ragged sigh. He seems so small without all his layers on, it calls out to something primal and possessive in Ren. He wants to protect him, wrap him up in his robes and protect him.

_I’m right here, Bren. I won’t leave you. I’m here._

_“_ Ren… _Ren_ …” Fuck, his voice sounds so small, so unlike the voice that instills fear in distant star systems, that rallies thousands of ‘troopers together, that signed the fate of the Hosnian system all those cycles ago. This voice, this voice holds doubt, it holds uncertainty and desperation.  


It holds fear.

“Hux, I’m here. I won’t leave you. What do you need? What can I do?”  


“I…. I think…” He swallows hard, presses himself closer, tugs Ren down towards his mouth with a tug to his curls and how can he resist? He can’t, he never could, was never strong enough to deny himself this. A weakness perhaps, but that can be assessed later, when Hux isn’t pleading with him to stay, peeling back his robes again to press cold hands against his chest.  


“I think I’m in love with you. I’m terrified. I don’t know what to do.” His voice sounds so earnest that Ren can feel his eyes begin to sting. “This is stupid. You can’t form attachments, all the holo-records say Jedi aren’t allowed to–”  


“I’m not a Jedi, you most of all know this.”  


“I’m an occupational hazard. I’m a liability. I’m a _weakness_ to you.” Ren winces at the word, momentarily frightened that Hux may have read his mind but finding that logic absurd because he _can’t_.  


“Stop this. _I_  get to dictate what is and isn’t a threat, a weakness, to _me_. Do you understand me, General?” Despite the harsh words his voice holds no malice, far from it. It’s sincere sounding, a gentle caress of warm breath against the side of Hux’s cheek. “I’ll form whatever attachments I want. And I will _protect_  those attachments with my dying breath.”  


“Ren…”  


“Quiet. Rest.”  


Surprisingly, Hux listens to him, relaxes in his embrace and snuggles closer to him, shivering slightly. Ren attempts to work out if its from the chill in his room or his confession; he decides to placate both. He waves his hand gently and uses the Force to pull the blankets up above both of them. Then he presses soft kisses into the mess of fiery locks, casting his thoughts outwards once more and finding that Hux has calmed himself significantly. He is close to sleep again, and Ren smiles.

_I am terrified as well, but only in the sense that I will lose you. That which is most dear to me.. That I will lose another so important to me, another that I love more deeply than the Force allows. So let me protect you, Hux._


End file.
